
10
SABBATH-SCHOOU LESSON QUARTERLY
heritage to reproach.' God has always wrought for His people
in their greatest extremity, when there seemed the least hope that
ruin could be averted. The designs of wicked men, the enemies
of the church, are subject to His power and overruling providence.
He can move upon the hearts of statesmen; the wrath of the tur-
bulent and disaffected, the haters of God, His truth, and His
people,
can be turned aside, even as the rivers of water are
turned, if He orders it thus. Prayer moves the arm of Omnip-
otence. He who marshals the stars in order in the heavens, whose
word controls the waves of the great deep,—the same infinite
Creator will work in behalf of His people if they call upon Him
in faith. He will restrain the forces of darkness, until the warn-
ing is given to the world, and all who will heed it are prepared
for the conflict."—"
Testimonies for the Church," volume 5, pages
452, 453.
"I was shown the people of God, and saw them mightily
shaken. Some, with strong faith and agonizing cries, were plead-
ing with God. Their countenances were pale, and marked with
deep anxiety, expregsive of their internal struggle. Firmness and
great earnestness were expressed in their countenances, while
large drops of perspiration fell from their foreheads. Now and
then their faces would light up with the marks of God's appro-
bation, and again the same solemn, earnest, anxious look would
settle upon them."—Id.,
volume 1, pages 179, 180.
" The priests and rulers were again, and more particularly and
earnestly, excited to announce the observance of a solemn fast,
to be kept as a holy day to the Lord. Let them convene the
congregation of Israel into the courts of the temple, and prepare
the people, by external purifications and proper instructions, for
the profitabl
e solemnizing of the day..- Not only the elders and
the grown people, but even the children and the sucking infants,
must be present, as a part of the congregation, and that the con-
sideration of the calamities in which they would be involved, might
more affect the minds of their parents. Newly married persons,
forgetful of the concerns and satisfactions peculiar to their situa-
tion, must be wholly engaged in the public humiliation and lamen-
tation of their people. /The priests, as the ministers of God, were
to take the lead; and standing between the porch of the temple
and the altar of burnt offering, where they might most conven-
iently be seen and heard, they were required to weep for the sins
and troubles of the nation, and to beseech the Lord to spare His
people and heritage, though deserving of punishment."—
Scott's
Comments on Joel 2 :15-17.
3. The words "zeal" and "jealousy" are both translated by
the same word in the Septuagint and German versions. And, as
will be seen by Consulting the dictionary, they are both derived
from the some original word. This will help us to understand
better the meaning of the word "jealous."